Stonebraker led Wingate in early years of tournament

Homer Stonebraker (holding ball) led Wingate to state championships in 1913 and '14.

As I wrote last week, we are counting down the top 75 boys Indiana All-Stars online every day in conjunction with the 75th year of the All-Stars.

We've started the countdown and will unveil No. 68 today. You can follow along at blogs.indystar.com/preps.

The first All-Star team was named in 1939, which means there are several of the earliest high school stars ineligible for the list. Perhaps the biggest was Homer Stonebraker.

I received a call this week from Raymond Moon, a friend of Stonebraker's. It was instructive to speak with Moon, who provided a glimpse into basketball from 100 years ago and into the personality of Stonebraker, the state's first basketball superstar.

Moon became friends with Stonebraker late in Stonebraker's life. Moon was working as a branch manager at Indiana National Bank in the early 1970s when Stonebraker visited. Moon immediately recognized his name.

"I asked him if he'd played a little basketball in his day," Moon said. "He asked if I knew where he was from and I said, 'Montgomery County.' He asked if I could be more specific and I said, 'Wingate.' He said, 'Good lord, boy, you must have been from there yourself to know me.' "

Growing up in tiny Wingate, just a few miles west of Moon's hometown of Crawfordsville, Stonebraker was an athlete well ahead of his time. Though he is often listed at 6-4, he told Moon he was actually 6-21/2 and 180 pounds. Still, that was tall for the era. And he was unusually skilled.

Stonebraker once scored 74 points in a game. This was when there was a jump ball after each made basket, which allowed Wingate to keep possession of the ball with Stonebraker jumping center.

After Crawfordsville won the first state basketball tournament in 1911, rival Lebanon won it the following year. The Stonebraker-led Wingate Spartans won the state tournament in 1913 and '14 despite not having an indoor gym of its own, earning them the nickname, "The Gymless Wonders."

Wingate won five games over two days at the state finals in Bloomington in 1913 and six games over two days in 1914. In the semifinals in 1914, Wingate defeated won 14-8 over Lebanon, which was coached by Ward "Piggy" Lambert, who later became a legendary coach at Purdue. In that game, Stonebraker tangled with a Lebanon player, who fell to the floor and broke his collarbone, according to the story he told Moon.

"(Stonebraker) said he was sitting in the locker room all sprawled out and Piggy Lambert came in there saying, 'Where is that SOB Stonebraker?' " Moon said. "Stonebraker said, 'Let me at him.' They got them separated pretty quick."

Moon laughed that Stonebraker was full of stories like that. He told of one Wingate game at Kokomo that was particularly testy. When Wingate was about a leave town by train, the male student cheerleader couldn't be found. After a lengthy search, he was finally located in an alley, nailed inside a piano crate.

Stonebraker went on to an All-American career at Wabash College, then played several years for the Indianapolis Em-Roes semipro barnstorming team. He later coached at Hartford City, was a sheriff in Logansport and refereed basketball games for several years.

Stonebraker, who lived in Speedway in his later years, died in 1977 at age 82. He is buried next to his wife Jeanette in a peaceful rural cemetery in Montgomery County.

Moon, who is now 82 himself, cherishes the friendship he forged with Stonebraker. When the state finals were moved to Bloomington for three years in the early 1970s, they drove down to watch the games.

"We were just sitting there watching one game and he says, 'Look at around at the crowd, Moon. You notice something different?' " Moon said. "He asked me two or three times and I finally said, 'No, what is it?' He said, 'Don't you think us guys from Montgomery County are just a little better looking than the rest of them?' "

Brief recap

Nos. 69-75 on the All-Star countdown includes three Mr. Basketball winners, three former Purdue stars and another who transferred from Purdue halfway through his career. Another player also transferred from an in-state school and became an All-American.

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Indiana All-Stars countdown: Some of the best pre-date All-Stars

As I wrote last week, we are counting down the top 75 boys Indiana All-Stars online every day in conjunction with the 75th year of the All-Stars.